Nittany Lions Open Tournament Play Against Vanderbilt

By Michael
Renahan, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff
WriterUNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State Nittany
Lions travel to Baltimore this week to begin play in the American Lacrosse
Conference tournament. Penn State has earned the No. 3 seed after going 4-1 in
conference play and earning a shared conference title with the Florida Gators
and Northwestern Wildcats. The conference title is the first in Nittany Lion
history.

Penn State will open their conference
tournament play against the No. 6 seed Vanderbilt Commodores. The Commodores
and Nittany Lions met in Happy Valley earlier this season, Penn State won the
showdown, 20-14. Penn State will look to
improve its defensive efforts against the Commodores. The 14 goals they allowed
against Vanderbilt is tied for second most allowed this season, they allowed 20
in a loss at Maryland.

"I think overall, you know defensively, we
just have to be ready to make more of an impact, not sit back and wait, but try
to get out and make things happen. I think sometimes we get a little on our
heels a little bit, so we have to be ready to be maybe a little more
aggressive. We've continued to get better defensively, but Vanderbilt can
score, they see each other well, they feed each other well, so being able to
get in front of the cutters and stop their transition will be key for us," coach
Missy Doherty said.

The 4-1 record in conference play is the best
under Doherty in her three years in Happy Valley. The Nittany Lions recorded
solid victories against top conference foes Florida, Johns Hopkins and Ohio State,
all of whom were ranked in the top 20 at some point during the regular season. Florida
was ranked No. 2 when the Nittany Lions defeated them. Penn State outscored its
ALC opponents this season 68-62, which showcases how talented this conference
is.

Against Vanderbilt on March 17, Penn State
started slow but dominated late to earn the victory. Maggie McCormick paced the
team. McCormick, a sophomore attacker, recorded six points against the
Commodores, scoring five times and assisting on another. McCormick has seven
points against the Commodores in her career.

"Maggie is awesome. She is just a great
person, a great competitor, she is very unassuming. Ever since her freshman
year, she just doesn't get fazed by pressure," Doherty said. "People will
pressure her behind, they will put double teams to her and it just doesn't seem
to really faze her. Having someone like that as a freshman, and then a
sophomore, has been great for our attack. She has really stepped up when we
need her to be a little more aggressive, were always trying to challenge her
with new things and she has been really receptive to what we would like her to
do. But, you know, having that leader down there especially as a sophomore has
been great for our team."

The win against Vanderbilt was the beginning
of a 7-2 run to finish the 2013 season for Penn State. It was also the team's
first conference win in 2013. The Nittany Lions are looking to advance past the
semifinals for the first time under Doherty. Last year, they fell to the Johns
Hopkins Blue Jays In the first round. In Doherty's first year, Penn State
advanced to the semi-finals before falling to the Northwestern Wildcats.

Penn State has a career record of 3-0 against Vanderbilt under Doherty. They
have outscored the Commodores 43-33 in those three games, and have controlled
the pace of the game against their conference foe. Although the Commodores have
been struggling going 2-14 and 0-5 in conference play this year, Doherty knows
how important it is to not overlook any competition in postseason play.

"Well if there is anything good thing that I
can bring out of the Princeton loss it would be [not overlooking teams],"
Doherty said. I think we know that we have to be ready to finish our shots. We
didn't shoot very well at Princeton. We have to take advantage of every play
that we have. Any team that is ready to play is ready to play. We know
Vanderbilt is coming in and wanting to make a run at the tournament, so they're
not going to be backing down from us, for sure. I think they're up for it. I
think they're ready to improve from our past game this weekend and they're pretty
fired up to get better."

The Nittany Lions will look to continue an offensive attack that features
several players. Along with McCormick, junior Mackenzie Cyr, senior Molly
Fernandez and sophomores Kelly Lechner and Tatum Coffey have played major roles
in the offensive gameplan. The four have all scored over twenty goals this
season and help bring a balanced attack to the Nittany Lions.

"I think to compete at a high level, you
can't just have two or three scorers, you really need to have a balanced attack
and I think going into this season we were always wondering how big our young
players would come up, how mature they would play, how much of an impact they
would make and it's been nice to see as the season progressed some young people
really be impact players and you can kind of see that in our offense," Doherty
said.

The Nittany Lions also have a core of young
players that have grown up throughout the season. Three freshmen, in
particular, have played significant roles for Penn State during the regular
season. Jenna Mosketti, Ally Heavens and Madison Cyr have all registered 15
goals or more in 2013, and much to the pleasure of their coach, they show no
signs of slowing down. Doherty said she
regardless of their youth, the young players are ready to go.

"You know, I think they're just competitors. I mean, I think it's one of the
reasons why we've been able to be successful, is they're just ready to compete,"
Doherty said. "They came here to Penn State wanting to compete at the highest
level and, thankfully, they've done that for us this year. I don't think you
change in preparation, we've been preparing to make our mark on the season all
year, and this week will be no different."

"It's been just great to see the maturity in
our young players. Obviously, we've played some great teams with great pressure
and they really have to be able to handle that pressure," said Doherty. "We
were wondering at the beginning of the year how mature they would be, and they
love the pressure. I think they come up with big plays at big times, they're not
fazed by the team were playing, they just want to compete. You see Kelly [Lechner]
having kind of a monster year for us at midfield. Jenna [Mosketti], the
freshman, being the four time rookie of the week for our conference, when our
conference is so competitive, I think is awesome. Across the board [Mosketti] is
just solid in every category."

Penn State will have to improve its
performance on the road if it hopes to advance to the semi-finals or the finals
of the ALC tournament. After going 10-7 away from home in Doherty's first two seasons,
the Nittany Lions have gone 4-5 in 2013. Their most recent loss came at the
hands of the Princeton Tigers, 14-9.

Along with improved defensive play,
goalkeeper Emi Smith looks to improve on her latest performance against
Princeton. The freshman played just over 27 minutes, allowing nine goals and taking
the loss. Doherty believes Smith will be ready to go come game-time.

"I think it's a tough position to be in,"
Doherty said. "To be able to handle that
pressure as a young player is hard, but were behind her 100 percent and we know
that she can have an amazing game on Thursday and were going to just be ready
to prepare to do that."

"Luckily we had a good experience down at
[Johns] Hopkins a couple weeks ago, so, you know, the field brings back some
good memories," said Doherty. "It's
tournament time, it's postseason time. You know, our girls have been in exams
all week and ready for them last week, so those will be over, thankfully. We're
ready to go and we know how big this tournament is and were coming down there
to give it our best, so it's not really hard to get up for our conference
tournament."